The Role of Religion on Physical As Well As Psychological Well-Being of an Individual
The Role of Religion on Physical As Well As Psychological Well-Being of an Individual
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Issue Date
2013-12
Authors
Kohli, Manpreet
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Abstract
In the last few decades, studies have linked the complex relationships between religious involvement and health (Ellison & Levin 1998; Levin, 1996; Levin & Chatters, as cited in Levin, 2010). Religious coping is one of the most common coping strategies among patients with physical and mental illness (Wachholtz & Sambamoorthi, 2011). The current thesis has explored how clients‘ religious beliefs, values, rituals, and religious community may play a role in coping with stressors and how these religious needs can be addressed in therapy to benefit clients‘ physical and psychological well-being (Koenig, 2008; Krause & Wulff, 2005). This study reveals why mental health professionals should develop awareness of their clients' faith systems. The literature supports the importance of counsellor competencies for addressing the divine in counselling sessions and has identified that counsellors have the power to do great good as well as harm because avoidance and disrespect of the client‘s spiritual or religious resources is also potentially harmful to the therapeutic outcome (Chou &Bermender, 2010; Rosenfeld, 2010; Plante, 2008; Plumb, 2011). This study emphasizes that the assessment of the presence and magnitude of religious coping patterns (positive/negative) may help therapists design interventions that are supportive of their clients' religious beliefs and their need to access religious resources (clients' support system), and may help therapists identify possible ‘warning signs' or ‘red flags' about how one‘s religion may serve as a resource or burden for clients in the coping process.
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Keywords
religion and health